describe your writing process

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hubb_99

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just wanting to get some ideas on what different things people do when they write. do you start on an insturment with a riff or idea( if so what instruement)? or do you wirte lyrics then come up with a melody from the lyrics? do you have a melody in mind when you write lyrics? do you write a whole song in one time or do you have to let them develop over time?
just pretty much share your ideas and what works or you with eveyone else.
 
I don't have a well defined process, because it varies from song to song. I have written a song in each way you describd. On a rare occasion I'll write an entire song's music on guitar from start to finish in one session. Most often bits and pieces will come to me over a long stretch of time. The hardest part for me is actually finishing the song. I will often have everything ready to go except for one section or arrangement and it doesn't come to me unless I work really hard to get it..

I think the best thing to do with song writing is to relax and be patient. If you get frustrated because nothing is spouting from the well, then you are delaying any further creativity. For example, I discovered a particular theme that I wanted to write about. I hadn't played guitar in a couple weeks due to all the other crap that the outside world makes you do, so I figured I could ease my way back into the routine by working with this new theme.

I spent two hours last night trying to get the idea out in the open, but nothing would come. I know it's going to come eventually, so I'll just keep the door open for it and work on other projects.. No big deal..

Cy
 
Well...

I can write and record a decent melody and rhythmn...
Or....
I can write a decent lyric...I like to write the lyric to an existing melody...it helps with the "feel" of the song in my opinion if you have the music first...

One thing that I have yet been able to do is to write a good melody and a good lyric together...
I always write better lyrics to other people's music....weird but true...

When writing a lyric...I like to start with the Hook and the chorus...
and sorta fill in the blanks for the verses...

I dunno if there is a right or wrong way...
I guess the proof is in the music...ya know? :)
Take it easy,
Joe
 
I have a tendancy of singing in the shower and just rambling out words. I just have to remember them for when i get out of the shower to write them down. From there I work on the song and further develop them. I also develop them more in the shower.. ie have a verse and a chorus and then write the next verse in the shower...

Example of a song written mostly in the shower ;-)

So I'll Dream

Verse 1
One Day I wanna fly to the Moon,
Maybe I won't or maybe I will.
There are lot's of things that I'd do,
but lifes to short to do it all.

I know what the end of the world is like,
it's not pretty, I've been there.
I know who is the love of my life,
and I haven't, met her yet.


Chorus
So I'll dream, make it all up
Say that I've done it like no one before.
Go places that you can never go.
And see faces that you can't see anymore.
So I'll dream.

Verse 2
I close my eyes and put back my head,
I've sitting on my old swing.
Back then I was so young, so innocent and free,
With not a worry in the wold to bother me.

It's cold ouside and it's getting dark,
I'm missing another sunset.
Suddenly the clouds disappear,
and there she is from blue to red.


Chorus
So I'll dream, make it all up
Say that I've done it like no one before.
Go places that you can never go.
And see faces that you can't see anymore.
So I'll dream.

Verse 3 (Bridge)
If you can imagine it, you can go there
Be as free as you want to be, anywhere.
You can fly up in the sky, with all the birds.
Or you can be just by yourself, undesturbed.

(Key Change)
Chorus
So I'll dream, make it all up
Say that I've done it like no one before.
Go places that you can never go.
And see faces that you can't see anymore.
So I'll dream.

© Daniel Porter 2001

---------------------------------------------------

I've written a few songs this way.

Porter
 
My Ways

I don't marry myself to a pattern or to a routine. I think the best way to write is to allow yourself to entertain different circumstances for writing to take place. In other words, don't make it a point to write with the same guitar, in the same place, drinking the same coffee etc. Write while you're driving (in your head), write while you're jamming, write while you're waiting in line somewhere. Don't get constrained by routines.

I wrote the music for the song I've referenced below completely from my head without any instruments, during a long cab ride.

By the way, if anyone wants to work with me on this song and write lyrics and sing to it, i'd be happy to work with you. Have a listen.
 
My Ways

I don't marry myself to a pattern or to a routine. I think the best way to write is to allow yourself to entertain different circumstances for writing to take place. In other words, don't make it a point to write with the same guitar, in the same place, drinking the same coffee etc. Write while you're driving (in your head), write while you're jamming, write while you're waiting in line somewhere. Don't get constrained by routines.

I wrote the music for the song I've referenced below completely from my head without any instruments, during a long cab ride.

By the way, if anyone wants to work with me on this song and write lyrics and sing to it, i'd be happy to work with you. Have a listen.

e-mail is songwriter@cogeco.ca

it's also at www.geocities.com/songwriterca2002
 
I wrote a song for my fiance last night driving between her sisters house and the place where she was learning to dance.... I had to pull over to the side of the road and find a McDonald's napkin and a pen to write it down!

When I was leaving her sisters place (after dropping off a computer) I wanted to write a song for me fiance... started by singing the first line.. "I'm so lucky that I found you". And the rest just flowed. I gave it to her as a present on the napkin.

Just another example... you can write anywhere anytime!

Porter
 
sometimes it's just a nifty phrase or word-play, and I jot it down, and immediately or a year later it leads to another lyrical sequence, or rhythmic/musical feel.

then again, sometimes i'm just messing around in the flow of an acoustic, and something really grabs, so i'll write down the feel/progression/key, and maybe comeup with a melodic cadence, and intuit what theme or words match up well.

i think a really interesting way of writing can be with yer whole band. somebody starts a groove, then everybody comes in one at a time (every 16 bars or so), keep that, and use it as a starting point for a tunes intro or verse or chorus. i like this b/c it lends its' elf to music with lyrics in a more percussive role, maybe just a few words repeated, chanted, whereas so often the music follows the lyrics, this can end up with the lyrics being buoyed upon the music.

or sometimes i just write out a song while feeling its rhythm with my body, and fit some chords and melody to it...
 
It seems that I always go with the chord progression first. I'll then come up with a form and then add a melody over it. For lyrics, i'll just pull out anything that "sounds" related to the progression. I do most of my writing on guitar.

I find that I write totally different songs on different instruments.
Latley, i've been starting songs out with grooves. I'll sit down at the drums, pick a tempo, think a song up while as I go. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt!

Also, I find that the age of an instrument sometimes influences me to write nostalgically. Weird. Like a rhodes piano, wurlitzer etc.
 
Collaboration...

I find writing is easier, if not more enjoyable, when you do it with someone else. Someone brings up a riff and then together you can add to it or take it in an entirely different direction. Each person has their own influences and styles that can come together to make a good song.

I agree with Poo...starting with different instruments can really change the musical direction of your writing. Sometimes I start with a piano riff, or acoustic guitar, or heavy distortion...and let things build from there.

As far as lyrics, I try to make the words complement the music...that is, I try to find vocal sounds, vowels, consonants, etc. that sound natural and flow with the music.

It sounds like a simple recipe when you break it all down, but we all know it is a lot more difficult than that. I think it's easy just to write a song...it's difficult to make it good
 
Lately, I have been getting the IDEA first, before I write a lyric or a melody. If the idea sticks and seems worthwhile, then I pick up a guitar or go the piano and start fleshing out melodies, chord changes and bits of the lyric. Once I establish a meter in my head, then I write as much of the lyric as I can in one sitting, then come back to it over time, using the melody. At some point, I finish the lyric. Then, I may begin to experiment a bit with the music and see if I can make it better.

Once I get a full rough draft, I record a demo and listen. Usually, I will begin to hear the weak spots and want to fix those up. If I figure out those problems, I usually have something pretty interesting and I go for the final recording.
 
It looks like I'm the only one around here with any consistency. :p

My writing is almost always the same way..

I'm sitting around playing guitar.. I come up with a riff/progression that sounds like it could be a song. I play it over and over again until I work out an arrangement. Then I grab my handy dandy notebook and songwriting pen and barf out the entire lyrics set.

I've written aboot 70 songs and only 3 or 4 of em weren't "finished" in one sitting. I've tried the whole "write down little ideas here and there and try to combine them later" thing... but it's never seemed to work out for me. In my case... spontaneous periods of inspiration are usually what work best.

WATYF
 
Re: Collaboration...

AlleyCat said:
I find writing is easier, if not more enjoyable, when you do it with someone else. Someone brings up a riff and then together you can add to it or take it in an entirely different direction. Each person has their own influences and styles that can come together to make a good song.
Click to expand...
I agree with this totally. I always feed off of other people's stuff. It gives me ideas I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. The Beatles did a lot of that. One guy would have part of a song and someone else would have another part and they would combine them. Some of you might have checked out my collaboration with B. Sabbath. Now it's our very first and so we're still feeling our way as to how to do this, both musically and technically, but it's a pretty cool thing even if it's a bit rough and I can tell you, the final result was completely unexpected by both of us. Now that's fun! And it's opened my mind to possibilities that I just didn't see before. Viva la collaborations! :D
 
sleep deprivation

what i do is spend a good 6 hours straight in the studio.from 11ish to 8 ish in the morning.i just hang out and wait for my eyelids to become deadweights.then i struggle to stay awake and wait to hear music.what i hear is what you normally would hear as you are falling asleep.the noises in your dreams.you know they phase in and out until you are tuned in 100% to your dream and you are completely asleep.i have learned to tap into this with out falling asleep and controlling what my mind hears.i a can hear my amps buzzing in the room and then that cuts out and i then hear music or a melodie real quick and it cuts back to the amps or whatever noise my equipemnt is making.so while i struggle to stay awake i start copying what i am hearing.and by morning i have recorded all the music to one or two songs plus some melodies and mumbling lyrics to play with next time i come into the studio.
-and i dont drink coffee or use any drugs because this would obviously keep me awake or make me pass out completley.both of which defeat the purpose of natural sleep deprivation.
-does anybody else use this technique or am i just crazy?
 
Well you're definately crazy. :D
But you're not the only person that does that. I always thought it was 'cause I'm so tired but now I see that it's a valid creative technique. :D :p :D
 
My writing process is euh.... I mostly sit at work, have an idea and write it down. Or I'm somewhere else and have an idea. Or I'm sitting at the piano trying to find something. Or I'm sitting at home making harmony excercises and have an idea. That's about it. Just ideas that come to mind and not really a writing process. Don't have alot of finished songs either. :rolleyes:

With our band it ussually happens like this: some dude is just jamming around on his own instrument, or on another ones, and then another guy goes: wow, that's cool, how do you play that. And about 30 minutes later the song is finished.

Or one of us comes in with a lick or an idea. Can be totally vague as: I want to write a surf-kinda song with me on organ...
 
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